READ THIS FIRST: THIS IS THE AWARD FOR PLAYERS OF FFS FRIENDLY WORLD CUP ONLY AND DOES NOT INCLUDE PEOPLE FROM FFS EURO 2012! THERE HAS BEEN A SEPARATE AWARD FOR THAT. THANK YOU.What a way to finish the group stages. England progressing to the quarters and France throwing a massive wobbly against the already eliminated Swedes. It has been somewhat of a slow burner this Matchday for courageous picks, with every success being tinged with a failure. This hasn’t prevented though a truly spectacular performance from leaving the rest for dead.I judged the award by the rules posted here. To recap:A “successful gamble” is defined as a single player choice that returns an unexpectedly high number of points. The awards will be given on these criteria:- Underappreciation- Overachievement- Underdog team- CaptaincyHonourable Mentions – A couple of decisions which were worthy of note if not the award:-Kostja toed the line between bravery and insanity by making the madcap choice of the benched Balotelli. He arose from the bench and secured his noble owner 5 points with a sweet overhead kick.

-Sleep Talk was richly rewarded for taking a punt on Greek central defender Kyriakos Papadopoulous. Not only did he manage to pick the right Papadopoulous, he also correctly picked a defender who helped to shut out the fearsome Russian attack, accumulating 6 recovered balls en route.And now for the winner:France had been favourites to become group winners from the outset. Only 1 goal conceded in 2 matches and a 20+ unbeaten run made selecting French opposition players truly unappealing and a task only to be undertaken by the most valiant of managers. Step forward Messimerized. He bravely chose Seb Larsson whose vicious volley and deadly delivery earned him and his owner 11 points.And with that the group stages are over. Congratulations to Messimerized and commiserations to JKisthe1, who failed to make the Awards post for the first time. We have one day off now before the quarters so be sure to spend this time selecting the most obscure and talented players still in the tournament to see if you can win yourself an “Order of Extreme Valour” Award.Stay tuned for our Day 1 Report and preview of Day 2!